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Chapter 7
Introduction to Finite Element Analysis in Solid Mechanics

Most practical design calculations involve components with a complicated three-dimensional geometry, and may also need to account
for inherently nonlinear phenomena such as contact, large shape changes, or nonlinear material behavior. These problems can only
be solved using computer simulations. The finite element method is by far the most widely used and versatile technique for simulating
deformable solids. This chapter gives a brief overview of the finite element method, with a view to providing the background needed
to run simple simulations using a commercial finite element program. More advanced analysis requires a deeper understanding of the
theory and implementation of finite element codes, which will be addressed in the next chapter.
HEALTH WARNING: It is deceptively easy to use commercial finite element software: most programs come with a nice userinterface that allows you to define the geometry of the solid, choose a material model, generate a finite element mesh and apply loads
to the solid with a few mouse clicks. If all goes well, the program will magically turn out animations showing the deformation;
contours showing stress distributions; and much more besides. It is all too easy, however, to produce meaningless results, by
attempting to solve a problem that does not have a well defined solution; by using an inappropriate numerical scheme; or simply using
incorrect settings for internal tolerances in the code. In addition, even high quality software can contain bugs. Always treat the
Typesetting
math:
86% element computations with skepticism!
results of
a finite
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7.1 A guide to using finite element software

The finite element method (FEM) is a computer technique for solving partial
differential equations. One application is to predict the deformation and
stress fields within solid bodies subjected to external forces. However,
FEM can also be used to solve problems involving fluid flow, heat transfer,
electromagnetic fields, diffusion, and many other phenomena.
The principle objective of the displacement based finite element method is to
compute the displacement field within a solid subjected to external forces.
To make this precise, visualize a solid deforming under external loads. Every point in the solid moves as the load is applied. The
displacement vector u(x) specifies the motion of the point at position x in the undeformed solid. Our objective is to determine u(x).
Once u(x) is known, the strain and stress fields in the solid can be deduced.
There are two general types of finite element analysis in solid mechancis. In most cases, we are interested in determining the
behavior of a solid body that is in static equilibrium. This means that both external and internal forces acting on the solid sum to
zero. In some cases, we may be interested in the dynamic behavior of a solid body. Examples include modeling vibrations in
structures, problems involving wave propagation, explosive loading and crash analysis.
For Dynamic Problems the finite element method solves the equations of motion for a continuum essentially a more complicated
version of F = ma. Naturally, in this case it must calculate the motion of the solid as a function of time.
For Static Problems the finite element method solves the equilibrium equations F = 0. In this case, it may not be necessary to
calculate the time variation of motion. However, some materials are history dependent (e.g metals deformed in the plastic regime).
In addition, a static equilibrium problem may have more than one solution, depending on the load history. In this case the time
variation of the solution must be computed.
For some applications, you may also need to solve additional field equations. For example, you may be interested in calculating the
temperature distribution in the solid, or calculating electric or magnetic fields. In addition, special finite element procedures are
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available to calculate buckling loads and their modes, as well as natural frequencies of vibration and the corresponding mode shapes
for a deformable solid.
To set up a finite element calculation, you will need to specify
1. The geometry of the solid. This is done by generating a finite element mesh for the solid. The mesh can usually be
generated automatically from a CAD representation of the solid.
2. The properties of the material. This is done by specifying a constitutive law for the solid.
3. The nature of the loading applied to the solid. This is done by specifying the boundary conditions for the problem.
4. If your analysis involves contact between two more more solids, you will need to specify the surfaces that are likely to
come into contact, and the properties (e.g. friction coefficient) of the contact.
5. For a dynamic analysis, it is necessary to specify initial conditions for the problem. This is not necessary for a static
analysis.
6. For problems involving additional fields, you may need to specify initial values for these field variables (e.g. you would
need to specify the initial temperature distribution in a thermal analysis).
You will also need to specify some additional aspects of the problem you are solving and the solution procedure to be used:
1. You will need to specify whether the computation should take into account finite changes in the geometry of the solid.
2. For a dynamic analysis, you will need to specify the time period of the analysis (or the number of time increments)
3. For a static analysis you will need to decide whether the problem is linear, or nonlinear. Linear problems are very easy
to solve. Nonlinear problems may need special procedures.
4. For a static analysis with history dependent materials you will need to specify the time period of the analysis, and the time
step size (or number of steps)
5. If you are interested in calculating natural frequencies and mode shapes for the system, you must specify how many modes
to extract.
6. Finally, you will need to specify what the finite element method must compute.
The steps in running a finite element computation are discussed in more detail in the following sections.
7.1.1 The Finite Element Mesh for a 2D or 3D component
The finite element mesh is used to specify the geometry of the solid, and is also used to
describe the displacement field within the solid. A typical mesh (generated in the
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commercial FEA code ABAQUS) is shown in the picture to the right.

A finite element mesh may be three dimensional, like the example shown. Two
dimensional finite element meshes are also used to model simpler modes of
deformation. There are three main types of two dimensional finite element mesh:
1. Plane stress
2. Plane strain
3. Axisymmetric
In addition, special types of finite element can be used to model the overall behavior of a 3D solid, without needing to solve for the full
3D fields inside the solid. Examples are shell elements; plate elements; beam elements and truss elements. These will be discussed in
a separate section below.
Plane Stress Finite Element Mesh : A plane stress finite element mesh is
used to model a plate - like solid which is loaded in its own plane. The solid must
have uniform thickness, and the thickness must be much less than any
representative cross sectional dimension. A plane stress finite element mesh for
a thin plate containing a hole is shown in the figure to the right. Only on quadrant
of the specimen is modeled, since symmetry boundary conditions will be
enforced during the analysis.

Plane Strain finite element mesh : A plane strain finite element

mesh is used to model a long cylindrical solid that is prevented from
stretching parallel to its axis. For example, a plane strain finite
element mesh for a cylinder which is in contact with a rigid floor is
shown in the figure. Away from the ends of the cylinder, we expect it
to deform so that the out of plane component of displacement

( ,

)=0

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u3 (x1 , x2 ) = 0. There is no need to solve for u3 , therefore, so a two

dimensional mesh is sufficient to calculate u1 (x1 , x2 ) and
u2 (x1 , x2 ).
As before, only one quadrant of the specimen is meshed: symmetry boundary conditions will be enforced during the analysis.
Axisymmetric finite element mesh: An axisymmetric mesh is used to model a
solids that has rotational symmetry, which is subjected to axisymmetric loading. An
example is shown on the right.
The picture compares a three dimensional mesh of an axisymmetric bushing to an
axisymmetric mesh. Note that the half the bushing has been cut away in the 3D
view, to show the geometry more clearly. In an axisymmetric analysis, the origin for
the (x,y) coordinate system is always on the axis of rotational symmetry. Note also
that to run an axisymmetric finite element analysis, both the geometry of the solid,
and also the loading applied to the solid, must have rotational symmetry about the y
axis.
7.1.2 Nodes and Elements in a Mesh
A finite element mesh is defined by a set of nodes together with a set of finite elements, as shown in the sketch on the right.
Nodes: The nodes are a set of discrete points within the solid body. Nodes
have the following properties:
1. A node number. Every node is assigned an integer number, which is used to
identify the node. Any convenient numbering scheme may be selected the
nodes do not need to be numbered in order, and numbers may be omitted. For
example, one could number a set of n nodes as 100, 200, 300 100n, instead
of 1,2,3n.
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2. Nodal coordinates. For a three dimensional finite element analysis, each

node is assigned a set of (x1 , x2 , x3 ) coordinates, which specifies the position
of the node in the undeformed solid. For a two dimensional analysis, each
node is assigned a pair of (x1 , x2 ) coordinates. For an axisymmetric analysis, the x2 axis must coincide with the axis of
rotational symmetry.
3. Nodal displacements. When the solid deforms, each node moves to a new position. For a three dimensional finite element
analysis, the nodal displacements specify the three components of the displacement field u(x) at each node: (u1 , u2 , u3 ). For a
two dimensional analysis, each node has two displacement components (u1 , u2 ). The nodal displacements are unknown at the
start of the analysis, and are computed by the finite element program.
4. Other nodal degrees of freedom. For more complex analyses, we may wish to calculate a temperature distribution in the solid,
or a voltage distribution, for example. In this case, each node is also assigned a temperature, voltage, or similar quantity of
interest. There are also some finite element procedures which use more than just displacements to describe shape changes in a
solid. For example, when analyzing two dimensional beams, we use the displacements and rotations of the beam at each nodal
point to describe the deformation. In this case, each node has a rotation, as well as two displacement components. The collection
of all unknown quantities (including displacements) at each node are known as degrees of freedom. A finite element program
will compute values for these unknown degrees of freedom.
Elements are used to partition the solid into discrete regions. Elements have the
following properties.
1. An element number. Every element is assigned an integer number, which is
used to identify the element. Just as when numbering nodes, any convenient
scheme may be selected to number elements.

2. A geometry. There are many possible shapes for an element. A few of the
more common element types are shown in the picture. Nodes attached to the
element are shown in red. In two dimensions, elements are generally either
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triangular or rectangular. In three dimensions, the elements are generally

tetrahedra, hexahedra or bricks. There are other types of element that are used
for special purposes: examples include truss elements (which are simply axial
members), beam elements, and shell elements.
3. A set of faces. These are simply the sides of the element.
4. A set of nodes attached to the element. The picture on the right shows a typical finite
element mesh. Element numbers are shown in blue, while node numbers are shown in red
(some element and node numbers have been omitted for clarity).
All the elements are 8 noded quadrilaterals. Note that each element is connected to a set
of nodes: element 1 has nodes (41, 45, 5, 1, 43, 25, 3, 21), element 2 has nodes (45, 49, 9, 5,
47, 29, 7, 25), and so on. It is conventional to list the nodes the nodes in the order given,
with corner nodes first in order going counterclockwise around the element, followed by the
midside nodes. The set of nodes attached to the element is known as the element
connectivity.

5. An element interpolation scheme. The purpose of a finite element is to interpolate the displacement
field u(x) between values defined at the nodes. This is best illustrated using an example. Consider the
two dimensional, rectangular 4 noded element shown in the figure. Let (u1 (a) , u2 (a) ), (u1 (b) , u2 (b) ),
(u1 (c) , u2 (c) ), (u1 (d) , u2 (d) ) denote the components of displacement at nodes a, b, c, d. The
displacement at an arbitrary point within the element can be interpolated between values at the corners,
as follows

u1 = (1 )(1 )u1 (a) + (1 )u1 (b) + u1 (c) + (1 )u1 (d)

where

u2 = (1 )(1 )u2 (a) + (1 )u2 (b) + u2 (c) + (1 )u2 (d)

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= x1 /B, = x2 /H
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1 /B,

2 /H

You can verify for yourself that the displacements have the correct values at the corners of the element, and the displacements
evidently vary linearly with position within the element.
Different types of element interpolation scheme exist. The simple example described above is known as a linear element. Six
noded triangles and 8 noded triangles are examples of quadratic elements: the displacement field varies quadratically with
position within the element. In three dimensions, the 4 noded tetrahedron and the 8 noded brick are linear elements, while the 10
noded tet and 20 noded brick are quadratic. Other special elements, such as beam elements or shell elements, use a more
complex procedure to interpolate the displacement field.
Some special types of element interpolate both the displacement field and some or all components of the stress field within an
element separately. (Usually, the displacement interpolation is sufficient to determine the stress, since one can compute the strains
at any point in the element from the displacement, and then use the stressstrain relation for the material to find the stress). This
type of element is known as a hybrid element. Hybrid elements are usually used to model incompressible, or nearly
incompressible, materials.
6. Integration points. One objective of a finite element analysis is to determine the distribution of stress within a solid. This is
done as follows. First, the displacements at each node are computed (the technique used to do this will be discussed in Section
7.2 and Chapter 8.) Then, the element interpolation functions are used to determine the displacement at arbitrary points within
each element. The displacement field can be differentiated to determine the strains. Once the strains are known, the stress
strain relations for the element are used to compute the stresses.
In principle, this procedure could be used to determine the stress at any point within an element.
However, it turns out to work better at some points than others. The special points within an
element where stresses are computed most accurately are known as integration points.
(Stresses are sampled at these points in the finite element program to evaluate certain volume
and area integrals, hence they are known as integration points).
For a detailed description of the locations of integration points within an element, you should
consult an appropriate user manual. The approximate locations of integration points for a few
two dimensional elements are shown in the figure.
There are some special types of element that use fewer integration points than those shown in
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the picture. These are known as reduced integration elements. This type of element is usually less accurate, but must be used
to analyze deformation of incompressible materials (e.g. rubbers or rigid plastic metals).
7. A stress strain relation and material properties. Each element is occupied by solid material. The type of material within
each element (steel, concrete, soil, rubber, etc) must be specified, together with values for the appropriate material properties
(mass density, Youngs modulus, Poissons ratio, etc).

7.1.3 Special Elements Beams, Plates, Shells and Truss elements

If you need to analyze a solid with a special geometry (e.g. a simple truss, a structure made of one
or more slender beams, or plates) it is not efficient to try to generate a full 3D finite element mesh
for each member in the structure. Instead, you can take advantage of the geometry to simplify the
analysis.
The idea is quite simple. Instead of trying to calculate the full 3D displacement field in each
member, the deformation is characterized by a reduced set of degrees of freedom. Specifically:
1. For a pin jointed truss, we simply calculate the displacement of each joint in the structure.
The members are assumed to be in a state of uniaxial tension or compression, so the full
displacement field within each member can be calculated in terms of joint displacements.
2. For a beam, we calculate the displacement and rotation of the cross section along the beam. These can be used to
determine the internal shear forces bending moments, and therefore the stresses in the beam. A three dimensional beam has 3
displacement and 3 rotational degrees of freedom at each node.
3. For a plate, or shell, we again calculate the displacement and rotation of
the plate section. A three dimensional plate or shell has 3 displacement and
two rotational degrees of freedom at each node (these rotations
characterize the rotation of a unit vector normal to the plate). In some
finite element codes, nodes on plates and shells have a fictitious third
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rotational degree of freedom which is added for convenience but you

will find that attempting to impose boundary conditions on this fictitious
degree of freedom has no effect on the deformation of the structure.
In an analysis using truss, beam or plate elements, some additional information must be specified to set up the problem:
1. For a truss analysis, each member in the truss is a single element. The area of the members cross section must be specified.
2. For a beam analysis, the shape and orientation of the cross section must be specified (or, for an elastic analysis, you could
specify the area moments of inertia directly). There are also several versions of beam theory, which account differently for
shape changes within the beam. Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is the simple version covered in introductory courses.
Timoshenko beam theory is a more complex version, which is better for thicker beams.
3. For plates and shells, the thickness of the plate must be given. In addition, the deformation of the plate can be approximated
in various ways for example, some versions only account for transverse deflections, and neglect in-plane shearing and
stretching of the plate; more complex theories account for this behavior.
Calculations using beam and plate theory also differ from full 3D or 2D calculations in that both the deflection and rotation of the
beam or plate must be calculated. This means that:
1. Nodes on beam elements have 6 degrees of freedom the three displacement components, together with three angles
representing rotation of the cross-section about three axes. Nodes on plate or shell elements have 5 (or in some FEA codes
6) degrees of freedom. The 6 degrees of freedom represent 3 displacement components, and two angles that characterize
rotation of the normal to the plate about two axes (if the nodes have 6 degrees of freedom a third, fictitious rotation
component has been introduced you will have to read the manual for the code to see what this rotation represents).
2. Boundary conditions may constrain both displacement and rotational degrees of freedom. For example, to model a fully
clamped boundary condition at the end of a beam (or the edge of a plate), you must set all displacements and all rotations to
zero.
3. You can apply both forces and moments to nodes in an analysis.
Finally, in an analysis involving several beams connected together, you can connect the beams in two ways:
1. You can connect them with a pin joint, which forces the beams to move together at the connection, but allows relative
rotation
2. You can connect them with a clamped joint, which forces the beams to rotate together at the connection.
In most FEA codes, you can create the joints by adding constraints, as discussed
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in Section 1.2.6 below. Occasionally, you may also wish to connect beam
elements to solid, continuum elements in a model: this can also be done with
constraints.

7.1.4 Material Behavior

A good finite element code contains a huge library of different types of material
behavior that may be assigned to elements. A few examples are described
below.
Linear Elasticity. You should alreadly be familiar with the idea of a linear elastic material. It has a uniaxial stressstrain
response (valid only for small strains) as shown in the picture
The stress--strain law for the material may be expressed in matrix form as

11

22

33
= E

12

13

23

0
0
0 11
1
1
1
0
0
0 22
1

1
0
0
0

33
+ T

0
0
0
1
+

0
0

0
12

0
0
0
0
0
1+
0 13
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 + 23
Here, E and v are Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio for the material, while denotes the thermal expansion coefficient. Typical
values (for steel) are E=210 GN/ m2 , v=0.33, = 5 106 K-1 . More extensive tables of values are given in Section 3.1.5.
Elasticplastic material behavior. Recall that the uniaxial stressstrain curve for an elasticplastic solid looks something like
the one shown on the right:
The material behaves elastically until a critical stress (known as the yield stress) is reached. If yield is
exceeded, the material deforms permanently. The yield stress of the matierial generally increases with
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plastic strain: this behavior is known as strain hardening.

The conditions necessary to initiate yielding under multiaxial loading are specified by a yield criterion,
such as the Von-Mises or Tresca criteria. These yield criteria are built into the finite element code.
The strain hardening behavior of a material is approximated by allowing the yield stress to increase with
plastic strain. The variation of yield stress with plastic strain for a material is usually specified by
representing it as a series of straight lines, as shown in the picture.

7.1.5 Boundary conditions

Boundary conditions are used to specify the loading applied to a solid. There are several ways to
apply loads to a finite element mesh:
Displacement boundary conditions. The displacements at any node on the boundary or within
the solid can be specified. One may prescribe u1 , u2 , u3 , or all three. For a two dimensional
analysis, it is only necessary to prescribe u1 and/or u2 .
Various symbols are used to denote displacement boundary conditions applied to a finite element
mesh: a few of these are illustrated in the figure on the right. Some user-interfaces use small
conical arrowheads to indicate constrained displacement components.
For example, to stretch a 2D block of material vertically, while allowing it to expand or contract freely horizontally, we would apply
boundary constraints to the top and bottom surface as shown in the figure.
Observe that one of the nodes on the bottom of the block has been prevented from moving horizontally,
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as well as vertically. It is important to do this: the finite element program will be unable to find a unique
solution for the displacement fields if the solid is free to slide horizontally.
During the analysis, the finite element program will apply forces to the nodes with prescribed
displacements, so as to cause them to move to their required positions. If only the u1 component of
displacement is prescribed, then the force will act in the e1 direction. If u2 is prescribed, the force acts
in direction e2 , and so on. Notice that you cannot directly apply a rotation to a node attached to a 2D or
3D solid. Rotations can, however, be applied to the nodes attached to certain special types of element, such as beams, plates and
shells, as well as rigid surfaces.
Symmetry conditions: Most finite element codes can automatically enforce symmetry and anti-symmetry boundary conditions.
Prescribed forces. Any node in a finite element mesh may be subjected to a prescribed force. The nodal force is a vector, and is
specified by its three (or two for 2D) components, (F1 , F2 , F3 ). Notice there is no direct way to apply a moment to a 3D solid you
would need to do this by applying two point forces a small distance apart, or by applying contact loading, as outlined below. Moments
can be applied to some special types of element, such as shells, plates or beams.
Distributed loads. A solid may be subjected to distributed pressure or traction acting on ints boundary. Examples include
aerodynamic loading, or hydrostatic fluid pressure. Distributed traction is a vector quantity, with physical dimensions of force per unit
area in 3D, and force per unit length in 2D. To model this type of loading in a finite element program, distributed loads may be applied
to the the face of any element.
Default boundary condition at boundary nodes. If no displacements or forces are prescribed at a boundary node, and no
distributed loads act on any element faces connected to that node, then the node is assumed to be free of external force.
Body forces. External body forces may act on the interior of a solid. Examples of body forces include gravitational loading, or
electromagnetic forces. Body force is a vector quantity, with physical dimensions of force per unit volume. To model this type of
loading in a finite element program, body forces may be applied to the interior of any element.
Contact. Probably the most common way to load a solid is through contact with another solid. Special procedures are available
for modeling contact between solids these will be discussed in a separate section below.
Load history. In some cases, one may wish to apply a cycle of load to a solid. In this case, the prescribed loads and
displacements must be specified as a function of time.
General guidelines concerning boundary conditions. When performing a static analysis, it is very important to make sure that
boundary conditions are applied properly. A finite element program can only solve a problem if a unique static equilibrium solution to
the problem exists.

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Difficulties arise if the user does not specify sufficient boundary constraints to
prevent rigid body motion of a solid. This is best illustrated by example.
Suppose we wish to model stretching a 2D solid, as described earlier. The
examples to the right show two correct ways to do this.
The examples below show various incorrect ways to apply boundary
conditions. In each case, one or more rigid body mode is unconstrained.

7.1.6 Constraints
You may sometimes need to use more complicated boundary conditions than simply constraining the motion or loads applied to a
solid. Some examples might be
1. Connecting different element types, e.g. beam elements to solid elements;
2. Enforcing periodic boundary conditions
3. Constraining a boundary to remain flat
4. Approximating the behavior of mechanical components such as welds, bushings, bolted joints, etc.
You can do this by defining constraints in an analysis. At the most basic level, constraints can simply be used to enforce prescribed
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relationships between the displacements or velocities of individual nodes in the mesh. You can also specify relationships between
motion of groups of nodes.
7.1.7 Contacting Surfaces and Interfaces
In addition to being subject to forces or prescribed displacements, solid objects are often loaded
by coming into contact with another solid.
Modern finite element codes contain sophisticated capabilities for modeling contact.
Unfortunately, contact can make a computation much more difficult, because the region where
the two solids come into contact is generally not known a priori, and must be determined as part
of the solution. This almost always makes the problem nonlinear even if both contacting solids
are linear elastic materials. In addition, if there is friction between the contacting solids, the
solution is history dependent.
For this reason, many options are available in finite element packages to control the way contacting surfaces behave.
There are three general cases of contact that you may need to deal with:
1. A deformable solid contacts a stiff, hard solid whose deformation may be neglected. In this case the hard solid is modeled as
a rigid surface, as outlined below.
2. You may need to model contact between two deformable solids
3. The solid comes into contact with itself during the course of deformation (this is common in components made from rubber,
for example, and also occurs during some metal forming operations).
Whenever you model contact, you will need to
1. Specify pairs of surfaces that might come into contact. One of these must be designated as the master surface and the
other must be designated as the slave surface. (If a surface contacts itself, it is both a master and a slave. Kinky!)
2. Define the way the two surfaces interact, e.g. by specifying the coefficient of friction between them.
Modeling a stiff solid as a rigid surface: In many cases of practical interest one of the
two contacting solids is much more compliant than the other. Examples include a rubber in
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contact with metal, or a metal with low yield stress in contact with a hard material like a
ceramic. As long as the stresses in the stiff or hard solid are not important, its deformation
can be neglected.
In this case the stiffer of the two solids may be idealized as a rigid surface. Both 2D and 3D
rigid surfaces can be created, as shown in the figure.
A rigid surface (obviously) cant change its shape, but it can move about and rotate. Its
motion is defined using a reference point on the solid, which behaves like a node. To move
the solid around during an analyisis, you can define displacement and rotational degrees of
freedom at this node. Alternatively, you could apply forces and moments to the reference
point. Finally, in a dynamic analysis, you can give the rigid solid appropriate inertial properties
(so as to create a rigid projectile, for example).

Defining a contact pair master/slave surfaces: Whenever you set up a finite element
calculation that involves contact, you need to specify pairs of surfaces that may come into
contact during the analysis. One of each pair must be designated the master surface, the
other must be designated the slave surface.
This rather obscure finite element terminology refers to the way that contact constraints are
actually applied during a computation. The geometry of the master surface will be
interpolated as a smooth curve in some way (usually by interpolating between nodes). The
slave surface is not interpolated. Instead, each individual node on the slave surface is
constrained so as not to penetrate into the master surface. For example, the red nodes on the slave surface shown in the figure would
be forced to remain outside the red boundary of the master surface.
For a sufficiently fine mesh, the results should not be affected by your choice of master and slave surface. However, it improves
convergence (see below to learn what this means) if you choose the more rigid of the two surfaces to be the master surface. If you
dont know which surface is more rigid, just make a random choice. If you run into convergence problems later, try switching them
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over.
Contact parameters You can define several parameters that control the behavior of two contacting surfaces:
1. The contact formulation - `finite sliding or `small sliding specifies the expected relative tangential displacement of the two
surfaces. `Finite sliding is the most general, but is computationally more demanding. `Small sliding should be used if the
relative tangential displacement is likely to be less than the distance between two adjacent nodes.
2. You can specify the relationship between the contact pressure and separation between the contacting surfaces. Alternatively,
you can assume the contact is `hard this means the interface cant withstand any tension, and the two contacting surfaces
cannot inter-penetrate.
3. You can specify the tangential behavior of the interface for example by giving the friction coefficient.

7.1.8 Initial Conditions and external fields

For a dynamic analysis, it is necessary to specify the initial velocity and displacement of each node in the solid. The default value is
zero velocity and displacement.
In addition, if you are solving a coupled problem one involving coupled deformation and heat flow, for example - you may need to
specify initial values for the additional field variables (e.g. the temperature distribution)
7.1.9 Solution procedures and time increments
The finite element method calculates the displacement at each node in the finite element mesh by solving the equations of static
equilibrium or the equations of motion. In this section, we briefly outline some of the solution procedures, and the options available to
control them.
Linear or Nonlinear Geometry As you know, you can simplify the calculation of internal forces in a structures by neglecting
shape changes when solving the equations of equilibrium. For example, when you solve a truss problem, you usually calculate forces
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in each member based on the undeformed shape of the structure.

You can use the same idea to simplify calculations involving deformable solids. In general, you should do so whenever possible.
However, if either
1. You anticipate that material might stretch by more than 10% or so or
2. You expect that some part of the solid might rotate by more than about 10 degrees
3. You wish to calculate buckling loads for your structure
you should account for finite geometry changes in the computation. This will automatically make your calculation nonlinear (and so
more difficult), even if all the materials have linear stress-strain relations.
Time stepping for dynamic problems: For a dynamic problem, the nodal displacements must be calculated as a function of
time. The displacements are calculated by solving the equations of motion for the system, which look something like
where M and K are called mass and stiffness matrices. Both M and K can be functions of u. There are 2.5 ways to integrate this
equation.
1. The most direct method is called explicit time integration, or explicit dynamics and works something like this. Remember
that for a dynamic calculation, the values of u and are known at t=0. We can therefore compute M and K at time t=0, and
then use them to calculate the acceleration at t=0, as
The acceleration can then be used to find the velocity and displacement at time as
This procedure can then be applied repeatedly to march the solution through time.
2. The second procedure is called implicit time integration or implicit dynamics. The procedure is very similar to explicit
time integration, except that instead of calculating the mass and stiffness matrices at time t=0, and using them to calculate
acceleration at t=0, these quantities are calculated at time instead. This is a bit more time consuming to do, however,
because it involves more equation solving.
3. The 2.5th method is called Modal Dynamics and only works if M and K are constant. In this case one can take the Fourier
transform of the governing equation and integrate it exactly. This method is used to solve linear vibration problems.
The following guidelines will help you to choose the most appropriate method for your application:
1. For explicit dynamics each time step can be calculated very fast. However, the method is stable only if is very small
specifically, the time interval must be smaller than the time taken for an elastic wave to propagate from one side of an
element to the other. This gives , where is the mass density of the solid, is its shear modulus and its Poissons ratio.
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Explicit dynamics works best for rapid, transient problems like crash dynamics or impact. It is not good for modeling
processes that take place over a long time. If elastic wave propagation is not the main focus of your computation, you can
sometime speed up the calculations by increasing the density (but you have to be careful to make sure this does not affect
the results). This is called mass scaling.
2. For implicit dynamics the cost of computing each time step is much greater. The algorithm is unconditionally stable,
however, and will always converge even for very large . This is the method of choice for problems where inertial loading is
important, but rapid transients are not the focus of the analysis.
3. Modal Dynamics only works for linear elastic problems. It is used for vibration analysis.
Nonlinear Solution Procedures for Static Problems: If a problem involves contact, plastically deforming materials, or large
geometry changes it is nonlinear. This means that the equations of static equilibrium for the finite element mesh have the general
form
where F() denotes a set of b=1,2N vector functions of the nodal displacements , a=1,2N, and N is the number of nodes in the
mesh.
The nonlinear equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson method, which works like this. You first guess the solution to the
equations say . Of course (unless you are a genius) w wont satisfy the equations, so you try to improve the solution by adding a
small correction . Ideally, the correction should be chosen so that
but of course its not possible to do this. So instead, take a Taylor expansion to get
The result is a system of linear equations of the form , where is a constant matrix called the stiffness matrix. The equations can now
be solved for ; the guess for w can be corrected, and the procedure applied over again. The iteration is repeated until , where is a
small tolerance.
In problems involving hard contact, an additional iterative method is used to decide which nodes on the slave surface contact the
master surface. This is just a brute-force method it starts with some guess for contacting nodes; gets a solution, and checks it. If
any nodes are found to penetrate the master surface, these are added to the list of nodes in contact. If any nodes are experiencing
forces attracting them to the master surface, they are removed from the list of nodes in contact.
The problem with any iterative procedure is that it may not converge that is, repeated corrections either take the solution further and
further away from the solution, or else just spiral around the solution without every reaching it.
The solution is (naturally) more likely to converge if the guess is close to the correct solution. Consequently, it is best to apply the
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loads to a nonlinear solid gradually, so that at each load step the displacements are small. The solution to one load increment can then
be used as the initial guess for the next.
Convergence problems are the curse of FEM analysts. They are very common and can be exceedingly difficult to resolve. Here are
some suggestions for things to try if you run into convergence problems:
1. Try applying the load in smaller increments. Most commercial codes will do this this automatically but will stop the
computation if the increment size falls below a minimum value. You can try reducing the minimum step size.
2. Convergence problems are sometimes caused by ill conditioning in the stiffness matrix. This means that the equations
cannot be solved accurately. Ill conditioning can arise because of (i) severely distorted elements in the mesh; (ii) material
behavior is incompressible, or nearly incompressible; and (iii) The boundary conditions in the analysis do not properly constrain
the solid. You can fix (i) by modifying the mesh some FEM codes contain capabilities to automatically remove element
distorsion during large deformation. You can avoid problems with incompressibility (ii) by using reduced integration elements
or hybrid elements. Problems with boundary conditions (iii) can usually be corrected by adding more constraints. There is
one common problem where this is hard to do if the motion of a body in your analysis is constrained only by contacts with
other solids (e.g. a roller between two surfaces) the stiffness matrix is always singular at the start of the analysis. Some finite
element codes contain special procedures to deal with this problem.
3. Try to isolate the source of the problem. Convergence issues can often be traced to one or more of the following: (i) Severe
material nonlinearity; (ii) Contact and (iii) Geometric nonlinearity. Try to change your model to remove as many of these as
possible e.g. if you are doing a plasticity computation with contact and geometric nonlinearity, try doing an elastic calculation
and see if it works. If so, the problems are caused by material nonlinearity. Similarly, try analyzing the two contacting solids
separately, without the contact; or try the computation without nonlinear geometry. Once youve traced the source of the
problem, you might be able to fix it by changing the material properties, contact properties or loading conditions.
4. Convergence problems are often caused by some kind of mechanical or material failure in the solid, which involve a sudden
release of energy. In this case, the shape of the solid may suddenly jump from one static equilibrium configuration to another,
quite different, equilibrium configuration. There is a special type of loading procedure (called the Riks method) that can be
used to stabilize this kind of problem.
5. Some boundary value problems have badly behaved governing equations. For example, the equations governing plane strain
deformation of a perfectly plastic solid become hyperbolic for sufficiently large strains. Static FEM simply wont work for
these problems. Your best bet is to try an explicit dynamic calculation instead, perhaps using mass scaling to speed up the
calculation.

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Load steps and increments: When you set up a finite element model,
you usually apply the load in a series of steps. You can define different
boundary conditions in each step. Unless you specify otherwise, the loads
(or displacements) will vary linearly from their values at the start of the step
to their values at the end of the step, as illustrated in the picture.
In a nonlinear analysis, the solution may not converge if the load is applied
in a single increment. If this is the case, the load must be applied gradually,
in a series of smaller increments. Many finite element codes will automatically reduce the time step if the solution fails to converge.
7.1.10 Output
The finite element method always calculates the displacement of each node in the mesh these are the unknown variables in the
computation. However, these may not be the quantities you are really interested in. A number of quantities can be computed from
the displacement fields, including:
1. Velocity and acceleration fields
2. Strain components, principal strains, and strain invariants,or their rates
3. Elastic and plastic strains or strain rates
4. Stress components; principal stresses; stress invariants
5. Forces applied to nodes or boundaries
6. Contact pressures
7. Values of material state variables (e.g. yield stresses)
8. Material failure criteria
All these quantities can be computed as functions of time at selected points in the mesh (either at nodes, or at element integration
points); as functions of position along paths connecting nodes; or as contour plots.

7.1.11 Units in finite element computations

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A finite element code merely solves the equations of motion (or equilibrium), together with any equations governing material behavior.
Naturally, equations like F=ma and do not contain any units a priori. Consequently, when entering geometric dimensions, material
data and loads into an FEA code, you can use any system of units you like, but the units of all quantities must be
consistent. You have to be very careful with this. When you sketch the part you are modeling, it is often convenient to enter
dimensions in cm, inches, or mm. This is fine but then cm, inches or mm must be used for any other material or load data that
contain length dimensions. For example, if you use cm to dimension your part, then you must enter data for Youngs modulus and
yield stress in , and you must also specify pressures acting on the system in . In this case, the FEA code will report stresses in units
of .

7.1.12 Using Dimensional Analysis to simplify FEA analysis.

You may have used dimensional analysis to find relationships between data measured in an
experiment (especially in fluid mechanics). The same idea can be used to relate variables you might
compute in an FEA analysis (e.g. stress), to the material properties of your part (e.g. Youngs
modulus) and the applied loading.
The basic idea is simple, and is best illustrated by example. Suppose we wish to use FEA to
calculate the deflection of the tip of a cantilever with length L, Youngs modulus E and area moment
of inertia I, which is subjected to a force P. We would set this up as an FEA problem, entering data
for L, E, I, and P in the code, and computing . We could express the functional relationship as
If we were asked to calculate the function f numerically, we would have to run simulations
where we vary E, I, L and P independently. This would be very painful. Fortunately, since the
relationship must be independent of the system of units, we know we can re-write this
expression so that both left and right hand side are dimensionless i.e. as combinations of
variables that have no units. Noting that and L have dimensions of length, I has dimensions of ,
P has dimensions and E has dimensions of , we could put
Now, we only need to calculate the function g. We could do this by keeping L and I fixed, and
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varying P to see the results of varying the first group; we could then keep P and L fixed and
vary I to see the effect of varying the second group. The results could be displayed graphically
as shown in the figure.
If we had done a linear analysis (no nonlinear geometric effects) the curves would be straight lines.
There is often more than one choice of dimensionless group, and some are better than others.
For example, for the beam problem we could create a new dimensionless group by multiplying
together the two groups in the function g this gives
This turns out to be a much better choice. In fact, if we conducted a linear analysis we would
find that the function h is independent of . In this case the data would collapse onto a single
master-curve as shown in the figure.
Unfortunately, dimensional analysis alone will not tell you the best dimensionless groups. You
have to use your physical intuition to identify them. For the beam example, you might remember that E and I always appear as the
product EI in the governing equations so it makes sense to try to find dimensionless groups that combine them in this way. In other
examples, you may see some physical significance of combinations of variables (they might look like a kinetic energy, or a pressure,
for example) which might help you to choose the best set.
The beauty of using dimensional analysis to simplify numerical simulations is that, unlike in experiments, you dont need to guess what
variables influence the results. You know exactly what they are, because you typed them into the program!
The following steps (known as the Buckingham Pi theorem) will tell you how many dimensionless groups to look for:
1. List the variable you are computing, and also the variables you entered into the code to define the problem. Count the total
number of variables and call it n
2. List the dimensions, in terms of fundamental units (i.e. mass, length, time, electric current, and luminous intensity) of all the
variables
3. Count the number of independent fundamental units that appear in the problem (e.g. if mass, length and time appear
independently, then there are 3 different units) and call the number k. Units are independent if they dont always appear in
the same combination. For example, in our beam problem mass and time are not independent, because they appear together
as in both P and E. The beam problem has length, and as two independent combinations of fundamental units.
4. A total of n-k independent dimensionless groups must appear in the dimensionless relationship.
For the beam problem, we had 5 variables , and two independent combinations of fundamental units, so we expect to see three
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dimensionless groups which is precisely what we got.

7.1.13 Simplifying FEA analysis by scaling the governing equations
An alternative approach to identifying the dimensionless parameters that control the solution to a
problem is to express the governing equations themselves in dimensionless form. This is a much
more powerful technique, but is also somewhat more difficult to use.
We can illustrate the procedure using our beam problem again. Let x measure distance along the
beam, and let w denote its vertical deflection. You may remember that linear Euler-Bernoulli beam
theory gives the following governing equation for w
(the right hand side vanishes because no forces act on 0<x<L) while the boundary conditions are
(If you dont remember these it doesnt matter its the scaling discussed below thats important).
We now re-write the equations so that they are dimensionless. We aways start by replacing all field variables (in this case w and x)
with dimensionless quantities. In this case we could use . Substituting gives
We now look and see if we can make further simplifications. Our objective is to remove as many material and geometric parameters
from the equations as possible, by defining new dimensionless field variables or introducing dimensionless combinations of material or
geometric variables. In this case, we see that if we define a new dimensionless displacement W so that
substitute, and cancel as many terms as possible, the governing equations become
In this form, the governing equations contain absolutely no material or geometric parameters. The solution for W must therefore be
independent of L,E,I or P. We can solve the equation just once, and then work out the tip deflection from the value of W at .
Specifically,
This scaling procedure is the best way to simplify numerical computations. It is more difficult to apply than dimensional analysis,
however, and it is possible (although perhaps not a good idea) to run an FEA simulation of a problem where you dont actually know
the governing equations! In this case you should just use standard dimensional analysis to try to simplify the problem.
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7.1.14 Dimensional analysis closing remarks

It is good practice to scale a mechanics problem as outlined in the preceding sections, and present results in dimensionless form. Not
all practicing engineers and managers are really comfortable with it, however They dont want to see data presented in
dimensionless form they want to see real numbers.
The best way to deal with this when presenting results in a report is to divide it into two sections one where you present `master
curves in dimensionless form, and another where the master curves are converted to give real numbers for quantities of interest.
You can make dimensional analysis work in your favor. It is not uncommon for your boss to tell you to run a series of simulations
where you vary a parameter that can be shown on dimensional grounds to have absolutely no effect. Also, dimensional analysis often
tells you that varying two parameters are equivalent for example, if you already had data for deflection as a function of load in the
beam problem, you could use that to calculate the deflection as a function of length. Dont tell your bosses this it will just confuse
them. Instead, tell them that you will work night and day to get the simulations done by the end of the week. Then take the week
off, and plot up the data 5 mins before your next meeting.

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